The Community was as shocked as you were to hear about the closing of Cakewalk.

Sonar owner of X1 or later can get a 50% discount on Studio One Pro.Through the end of this year, Presonus wants Cakewalk customers to be able to enjoy Studio One Professional at half off the existing crossgrade price—around $149 USD; exact pricing and currency will vary by region, of course.

UPDATE: The crossgrade price is now $299 USD.

They will offer this special crossgrade through a handful of select dealers worldwide and also through our direct shop.Special Sonar Crossgrade

=========================================================================Many of us have used Cakewalk in the past and can help you make the migration.Here is a generalized difference in philosophy and maturity of the two DAWs:

Studio One Development Philosophy (generalizations)

Presonus was founded as a music hardware company. This means that Studio One will first aim to highly integrate with Presonus hardware. Software/Hardware release are usually linked (Many combinations allow for full fader, FX, and pre-amp recall-ability right in Studio One.)

Studio One has no MIDI! This means that the developers created their own proprietary protocol within Studio One to better handle the original MIDI spec resolutions and timings. Does it communicate with Hardware or Virtual Instruments via MIDI? Yes. Is it as mature as a 30-year-old DAW that got it beginnings with MIDI? No.

It was built ground up as a 64-bit lean machine using state of the art techniques that are not burdened by legacy code.

For the average customers it is very reliable. Are there issues with certain workflows from time to time? Yes. Do they fix them? Yes

Where some DAWS have a philosophy of "No Limits" with a sea of options, configurations, and customizations, Studio One is the opposite. They look for ways through "workflow discipline" to make as much as possible intuitive and simple as possible. (think drag&drop, context-driven behavior, no popups with options, but many hotkey combinations) Studio One has less than 100 options. Sonar had over 300 (in 30 years)

Workflow is king. It will take some time to learn the new approach but after you do and then try to go back to another DAW that is not so focused on workflow, you will notice the difference.

The original developers came from Cubase, so you may see similar but improved designs, for example, "Tracks" in the arranger area are a different object than "Audio Channels" in the mixer and may not have a one to one correlation.

As part of the different approach to MIDI, external “physical keyboards, sound modules, and controllers are not selected via a MIDI input list as you might expect, but rather have a device definition layer that you set up first.

There are many "first" in the DAW world.ARA was co-developed by Presonus and Celemony, other vendors such as Synchro Arts VocALign use it as well, Scratchpad arranger (linear and non-linear arrangements on the same timeline, Mix Engine FX (internal access to the actual mix engine flow) and more.

The Community:Welcome to a “customer-driven community” unique in that it is not managed by Presonus (thus no corporate link) but only by an oasis community of loyal customers. As a customer or potential customer, you do have many Presonus resources including technical support and the “Answers” database.

Please start by watching the welcome video and code of conduct. Welcome...and start off right by putting your specs into your signature HERE.

Once again, welcome everyone who just joined us here coming from the Sonar user community!

Maybe you've seen my message on the Cakewalk forum or read Rick's message on our special crossgrade offer. If you consider switching to Studio One, you will find lots of helpful information here. Thanks Jeff, for collecting some essential information to get the conversation started. Our forum moderators and Studio One users will help you finding the answers you're looking for. The software team in Hamburg including myself will keep an eye on this discussion, as well as your questions and feature requests posted on answers.presonus.com.

Track = a lane in the arranger window that is used to record/playback data (audio or MIDI)

Channel = Audio mixer channel

Bus = a summing channel found only in the mixer

FX bus = a special summing bus that has a safety solo feature to worked in sync with source channel soloing

Folder = in general means a set of tracks in the arranger area that are nested and can be configured to close together with the associated channels. An exception is if a Folder has a Bus associated with it will show up on the mixer as Folder Bus.

Basic Track DifferencesSonar referred to the Track and the Audio Mixer Channel as the same thing. Studio One handles them as different functions.Buses are only found in the Mixer. Basic Mixer Differences

Quick Side by Side ComparisonStudio One Pro has a Project (master page) and (event file) pool view and Track List, Studio One does not have Event List, Lyrics, SysEx View, Navigator View Surround Panner, User Icons, Screensets.

Here is a link to a series of Basic getting started Videos for Sonar users done by Johnny Geib ( themuzic ) viewtopic.php?f=374&t=27665

Attachments

1) For HELP Read the Manual. 2) Create a SUPPORT TICKET. "Select Submit a Request".3) For Comunity Help add your specs to your SIGNATURE AND. Include: 1) One Sentence Description 2) Expected Results 3) Actual Results 4) Steps to ReproduceDetailed how to HERE.

Welcome all from the Cakewalk Community!This is our official welcome to you all and we really want to help as much as we can provide answers and resources for you to make your transition to Studio One as painless and easy as possible.

All the best. Bbd

Bbd

1) For HELP Read the Manual. 2) Create a SUPPORT TICKET. "Select Submit a Request".3) For Comunity Help add your specs to your SIGNATURE ANDInclude: 1) One Sentence Description 2) Expected Results 3) Actual Results 4) Steps to ReproduceDetailed how to HERE.

Welcome everyone. We hope that you find this forum as a friendly, helpful community as we all have. There are many users, as well as the admin team, that strive to assist new users in getting up and running as smoothly as possible.

Please do not hesitate to ask questions, or request video examples, of sticking points that are hindering the transition you are trying to make.

Please feel free to reach out either via PM, or forum post, if you are having a hard time finding out the information you need. We are here to help.

As a new Presonus Studio One user, I have a question about Licensing. In SONAR, we could install on any number of machines provided we only have a single instance active at a time. This is handy for people who do live tracking on one machine and bring back the individual files and mix/master them in another system.

How does Presonus handle this? Is the "Prime" good enough top track 16-32 channels and then allow transfer into Professional?

patm300e wroteAs a new Presonus Studio One user, I have a question about Licensing. In SONAR, we could install on any number of machines provided we only have a single instance active at a time. This is handy for people who do live tracking on one machine and bring back the individual files and mix/master them in another system.

How does Presonus handle this? Is the "Prime" good enough top track 16-32 channels and then allow transfer into Professional?

Thanks in advance...SO newbie.

With Studio One you can install on 5 different machines and run them all at once if you need to. Also you can activate and deactivate on any machine anytime you need.

I would like to personally welcome all the Sonar users who are looking into or are already using Studio One. I have made a few videos on MIDI for you to get familiar with the differences nd would love for you all to post any feature questions and examples so I can research and post more videos answering exactly what you are looking for.

I will be honest in letting you all know if a certain feature isn't there as well as possible work arounds so you can keep the work flow going.

For one on one support please email me at johnnygeibhst@gmail.com or visit my sites and facebook groups for even more options.

This place here is the overall best place for direct answers but you have many options.

^ That's an excellent list from Johnny Geib. He also features in my list of favourites. I posted this earlier in the Forum Community Support forum and want to include it here:

A list of Studio One courses and tutorials

Over the last three years or so, I've been bookmarking courses and tutorials for Studio One versions 2 and 3. Given how many newcomers there are on the Studio One forums, I thought it a good time to share a list of the ones I've found so far. Perhaps other long-time S1 users would care to share any they know of. Almost all of them are YouTube channels; just one (Groove3) is an external pay-for site, but I consider it to be the best.

Full coursesQuanta - Extremely detailed courseObedia - Older but still good

And the paid-for siteGroove3Since most of what's in version 3 is the same as version 2, you can start out watching the version 2 videos then catch up with the new features in the later videos. There are lots of Studio One-related content on this site. It's a goldmine for newcomers.

Thanks all! After less than a week with S1 I'm already proficient enough that I'm using it full time for my pro studio. Still learning and missing a few things from SONAR, but also found cool new things and things that are better. Working smoothly and appreciate the help and warm welcome here!

Thank you all for the warm welcome. After buying and using Studio One for a few days I cannot say other than that it's an intuitive, well performing and stable DAW. I am sure that in time we can get the extra features that SONAR has (mainly inthe MIDI editting department) added to Studio One with feature requests.

1 week into Studio One from SONAR - doing all my (new) work in it now in my pro studio - getting very used to it very fast - working efficiently - some great features - lovin' most of it! Couple SONAR "translation" questions:

1. Any "marker view" ? - that is - a list of markers that you can jump to by clicking them - very handy with a long project (song) and lots of markers.

2- Any way to show peak markers on the wave forms for each track as it plays through (or when recording) ? I'm used to seeing a little green flag on waveform as each new peak is reached with its value displayed too - red if its a clip. I know the meters will show you if a clip happens - but nice to know where!

3 - What do you guys call that main view where the tracks and wave forms are? We called it the "Track View" or "Track Window" - but haven't seen that term around here?

4 - anyway to easily horizontally scroll in track or console windows? I find it tedious to have to position over the little scroll bar area - anything like key combo and click and drag to scroll with velocity?

5 - related - any way with key shortcut to quickly center the track view to the play cursor?

kenmatson wrote1 week into Studio One from SONAR - doing all my (new) work in it now in my pro studio - getting very used to it very fast - working efficiently - some great features - lovin' most of it! Couple SONAR "translation" questions:

1. Any "marker view" ? - that is - a list of markers that you can jump to by clicking them - very handy with a long project (song) and lots of markers.

2- Any way to show peak markers on the wave forms for each track as it plays through (or when recording) ? I'm used to seeing a little green flag on waveform as each new peak is reached with its value displayed too - red if its a clip. I know the meters will show you if a clip happens - but nice to know where!

3 - What do you guys call that main view where the tracks and wave forms are? We called it the "Track View" or "Track Window" - but haven't seen that term around here?

4 - anyway to easily horizontally scroll in track or console windows? I find it tedious to have to position over the little scroll bar area - anything like key combo and click and drag to scroll with velocity?

5 - related - any way with key shortcut to quickly center the track view to the play cursor?

THANKS SO MUCH!!!

I will update the OP quick comparison as I have time so look there first.1) Yes Marker track2) No please add FR 3) Track view = Arranger View (most call it the track view)4) Arrow keys can also be used to scroll5) S1 has auto scroll see the icon on top bar.

1) For HELP Read the Manual. 2) Create a SUPPORT TICKET. "Select Submit a Request".3) For Comunity Help add your specs to your SIGNATURE AND. Include: 1) One Sentence Description 2) Expected Results 3) Actual Results 4) Steps to ReproduceDetailed how to HERE.

Just posted this on FB, but maybe this is a good place to share this...former Cakewalk refugee as well.

Sonar Platinum > PreSonus S1 project migration, the way I did it (you will lose a big portion of your original mix, but there's no way keeping it whilst migrating these projects I think):

- create a folder in the PreSonus/Songs folder with the name of the song. Create another folder inside the one you created with the name Media

- in SPLAT, save instrument patches and specific fx settings with logical names (song title + track name) within the instrument or effect

- if it's important to keep your fader and panning settings: rename the tracks with names like ' electric guitar vol -0.7dB, pan 50L'. If ordering is important to you, add '01 -', '02 - ' in front of each trackname, as the export will order by alphabet

- save SPLAT project as Midi 1 file

- ctrl A to select all tracks in the SPLAT project

- export all tracks 'As You Hear' with all automation, fx and stuff turned off and 'match source' to keep your mono/stereo content like it was (do not use Save As and Tracks option, it will mess up the alignment! By exporting the tracks 'as you hear', you'll get wave files for the entire duration of the song that align perfectly with the midi). Export the tracks to the Media folder you created.

- open Midi 1 file in S1 and assign instruments accordingly. The saved patches can be used.

- delete all empty audio tracks

- import exported SPLAT tracks from the Media folder

- remove silence (Manual option) with a -80dB below threshold for all tracks. These keeps your audio data intact, but removes the extra silence added by the export

- reorganize the tracks in regard to panning, volume and fx (the saved presets can be used).

S1 does not import the files like Sonar does, the location remains the same. So do not delete them afterwards and this is also why I added the Media folder step. If you add or change tracks later on in the S1 project, they will be stored in the same location as the rest of the files

Edit: you can circumvent this by...You can enable Studio One > Options > Locations > User Data > Ask to copy external files when saving song, to automatically copy external files to the song folder. Or you can use the context menu in the Pool to do it manually.

Last edited by tjarkobusink on Sat Dec 02, 2017 4:27 am, edited 6 times in total.

Application manager during office hours, musician during the weird parts of the night

By the way, I love S1! Got accustomed to it very quickly, very intuitive and well performing.

Only thing I don't understand yet though is...

In the past 15 years I got used to Sound On Sound punching in: I simply placed the cursor just a bar before the punch in spot, then hit record with an armed track, recorded the part, and slip edited the newly recorded clip next to the previous clip. In S1 the signal of the clip before the punch in spot stops playing the moment I hit record. The only way to get around it, is selecting the punch in area, and do it that way. I noticed one can choose Replace or Overdub, but in Overdub the signal of the previous clip is still cut off the moment I hit record.

Application manager during office hours, musician during the weird parts of the night

It's no biggie. I love the low latency, stability and the fact that my recorded tracks are ALWAYS perfectly aligned. With Sonar at the end I sometimes had to drag them a ms to the left, because Sonar got confused with the plugin latencies.

Application manager during office hours, musician during the weird parts of the night